Thoughts on Therese Raquin

I finished Therese Raquin today.  I thought that it was a wonderful read although it did drag out towards the end and became repetitive.  However, the whole feel of the novel was one of oppression and darkness, and to keep that imagery going throughout the whole book I thought it was very well done..

Therese felt oppressed in her marriage to Camille, by her overbearing aunt, in the dark shop and then by what she and Laurent had done.

Laurent felt oppressed having to work every day waiting for his father to die so he’d have his inheritance and live the idle life, but when he can live the idle life after murdering Camille and  marrying Therese, he is oppressed by it because then his thoughts always turn to Camille, as he has nothing else to occupy them.

Madam Raquin never recovers from the shock of Camille’s death and declines into an invalid state to the point where she can only move her eyes.  Eventually the truth of the murder slips out and Madam Raquin is in a state of perpetual torture, being cared for by the murderers of her beloved son.  Unable to tell anyone of this dreadful truth, trapped in her own body, all she can do is wish for death.

I won’t divulge the ending as this really is worth reading.  The first half of the novel was very well done, but the second half as I said dragged on a bit.

I’m enjoying Button, Button by Richard Matheson. These stories are very easy to read and I look forward to the twist at the end of each.  Dying Room Only is the best so far, although I was disappointed with the ending on this one as it fell at bit flat.

Still enjoying being introduced to the bizarre inhabitants of Savannah.  They are funny, but rather alarming at the same time! I've just been introduced to The Lady Chablis.  What a character!

For my next audio read I decided on something light, and I know my daughter will be annoyed that it’s not Harry Potter (I’ll read the next one soon, I promise!), so I’ve chosen Darkfall by Dean Koontz.  It started off okay, but the banter between the cops is annoying me already!!

I’m also reading a few pages now again from the Book of the Dead – it’s obviously a sequel to another novel but I will continue with it, it’s about a museum that decides to open up an Egyptian exhibit that has been closed for some time to distract the public from a scandal that has loomed over the museum’s Management.  It’s easy to read, and I don’t mind it so far for a bit of distracting ‘fluff’.